Motivation, Self-Monitoring, & Family Process in Autism

描述（由申请人提供）：本申请描述了一项相互关联的研究计划，该计划将提供有关神经生物学和家庭过程的广泛和多方面的数据，这些数据有助于自闭症高功能儿童（乌法儿童）的社会发展。它的目的是提供必要的描述性科学数据，为开发更有效的诊断和干预方法奠定立即有用的基础，以满足小学到高中阶段功能较高的儿童的特定社会情感需求。结合这一应用目标，该研究计划还旨在测试有关动机和自我监控相关大脑系统以及家庭因素在HFA儿童社会发展中的作用的新假设。特别是，这个应用程序描述的研究，将检查神经生物学和家庭过程的理论表明，有助于社会功能障碍和高功能儿童合并症的尺寸。这里包括：1）与前部EEG不对称相关的动机过程，2）与EEG错误相关的负性相关的自我监测过程，以及3）与父母的情绪状态和家庭批评表达情绪（EE）相关的过程。本研究的目的是复制和扩展初步观察，即前部EEG不对称测量提供了HFA儿童亚组的重要标记，这些亚组在社交障碍、共病焦虑和执行功能的测量上彼此显著不同，并且对照。第二个目的是测试的假设，HFA儿童将不同于控制措施的自我监控，自我监控将与HFA小组的差异，社会障碍和共病焦虑。本申请的最后一个目的是检查父母的情绪状态和/或家庭表达的情绪在多大程度上与HFA儿童的社会障碍和合并症的个体差异有关。为了解决这些具体目标，本申请提出了一项对2个年龄组（8-12岁和13-17岁）的120名HFA儿童和120名年龄、性别和智商匹配的对照组的研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application describes an interrelated program of studies that will provide a broad and multifaceted array of data on neurobiological and family processes that contribute to the social development of higher-function children with autism (UFA children). It has been designed to provide descriptive scientific data necessary to establish an immediately useful foundation for the development of more effective diagnostic and intervention methods to meet the specific social emotional needs of higher functioning children in the elementary through high-school years. In conjunction with this applied goal, this program of studies has also been designed to test new hypotheses about the role of motivation and self-monitoring related brain systems, as well as family factors, in the social development of HFA children. In particular, this application describes research that will examine dimensions of neurobiological and family processes that theory suggests contribute to both social impairments and comorbidity in higher functioning children. Included here are: 1) motivation processes associated with anterior EEG asymmetry, 2) self-monitoring processes associated with EEG error related negativity and, 3) processes associated with parent's emotional status and family critical expressed emotion (EE). 1 aim of this research is to replicate and extend preliminary observations that anterior EEG asymmetry measures provide an important marker of subgroups of HFA children that significantly differ from each other, and controls, on measures of social impairment, comorbid anxiety and executive functions. A second aim is to test the hypotheses that HFA children will differ from controls on measures of self-monitoring, and that self-monitoring will be related to HFA sub-group differences in social impairments and comorbid anxiety. A final aim of this application is to examine the degree to which parent emotional status and/or family expressed emotion is related to individual differences in social impairments and comorbidity among HFA children. To address these specific aims this application proposes a study of 120 HFA children in 2 age groups (8-12 and 13-17 years) and 120 age, gender and IQ matched controls.